Matthews International Corporation announced unaudited consolidated results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2017. For the quarter, the company reported net income attributable to the company for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 was $35.2 million, or $1.10 per share, compared to $10.3 million, or $0.32 per share, a year ago. Significant items contributing to the increase in the company's GAAP earnings per share included the impact of recent acquisitions including continued acquisition synergy realization, a reduction in acquisition-related charges, and preliminary estimated benefits from recent U.S. Federal tax regulation changes. On a non-GAAP adjusted basis, earnings for the fiscal 2018 first quarter were $0.64 per share compared to $0.66 per share a year ago. Excluding the impact of early adoption, GAAP earnings were $0.28 per share and non-GAAP earnings were $0.62 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2016. The company's consolidated sales for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 were $369.5 million, compared to $349.0 million for the same quarter a year ago. The impact of recent acquisitions, higher sales of marking products and cremation equipment, and changes in foreign currency rates were the primary contributors to the year-over-year improvement. Non-GAAP adjustments for the first quarters of fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 primarily included acquisition-related costs, intangible amortization expense, and the non-service portion of pension and post-retirement benefits expense. Operating profit was $17.9 million against $19.1 million a year ago. Net income before income taxes was $9.9 million against $12.7 million a year ago.

The company provided earnings guidance for the full year of fiscal 2018. On a full-year basis, the company expects to deliver a significant improvement in its adjusted EBITDA and another strong year of cash flow from operations and free cash flow approaching $4 per share. All these should result in an increase in the non-GAAP earnings per share of at least 10%.